Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said that the company reviews real world activity when dealing with accounts of racists and hate-mongers. Some users were chilled by the prospect of being monitored offline, while others plain confused.

“We look at off-platform behavior as well. At things that aren’t just happening on Twitter, but happening on other platforms or in the real world,” Dorsey told political commentator and TV host Sean Hannity on his radio show on Wednesday.

Some users caught an Orwellian vibe to the policy and suggested it’s unacceptable for a social media platform to poke its nose in what they’re doing when not logged on.

"Jack" disclosed on Hannity today that Twitter takes into account "off-platform behavior" in its moderation decisions. So something you do IRL that has no necessary connection to Twitter can be used as justification for a Twitter ban. I'm writing a dystopian screenplay about this

Twitter’s chief further explained that, when dealing with hate speech reports, the company’s moderators also review the users’ relevant past activities on Twitter and consider the “cultural context” of the conversation.

“We make sure all of our folks understand the cultural context of something that’s said. Because some cultural contexts enable some speech, and other cultural contexts don’t,” Dorsey stressed. He also admitted that Twitter was “terrible” at communicating its own guidelines to the public, and promised to change that. Some users agree Twitter’s own terms could use some clarity.'